In a conventional topical nerve diagnosis, a medical physician presumes associated nerve pathways which will cause symptoms of abnormality in neural functions such as motor paralysis, perception disorder such as numbness, accommodation disorder in diaphoresis or blood pressure, abnormality in balance or muscle tone, and abnormality in allophasis or tendon reflex based on a neural finding with respect to a patient, and decides an associated lesion which causes the symptom.
In this case, the medical physician must decide the associated lesion by using his (or her) own knowledge of neuroanatomy while imaging associated nerve pathways related to the abnormal neural findings as well as positional relations of those associated nerve pathways. However, knowledge of neuroanatomy required for such diagnosis is an enormous amount, so that it is difficult to memorize perfectly the contents of neuroanatomy.
Hence, in a conventional topical nerve diagnosis, an associated lesion has been decided on the basis of physician's experience and gut feel, so that there was a case where an incorrect diagnosis was made.
Furthermore, medical students are required in learning of neuroanatomy to read thoroughly books of neuroanatomy, to understand details of nerve pathway diagrams, besides details of nerve pathway cut surface diagrams in regions of cerebrum, brainstem, spinal cord and the like, and to memorize correctly them. However, nerve pathway diagrams and nerve pathway cut surface diagrams are very complicated, and an amount of information derived therefrom and to be memorized is enormous amount. Accordingly, it was very difficult in general to memorize correctly such information. (For example, see “SHINKEI SHINDANGAKU NYUMON (Principles of Neurologic Diagnosis)” authored by Erwin B. Montogomery, Michael Wall, and Victor W.
Henderson; translated by supervision of Shunsaku Hirai; published from Medical Science International; May 1987; and “RINSHOH NO TAMENO SHINKEIKINOU KAIBOHGAKU (Neurological Function Anatomy for Clinic)” authored by Fumio Gotoh and Takahiro Amano; published from Chuhgai Igaku-sha; 1996)